The guides and notes are posted here to provide an easy-to-access repository of information that might help users. Use the Guide Index on the right side to easily navigate back and forth across the page.

I've also documented a bunch of other stuff over on the PCGamingWiki[pcgamingwiki.com] article for NieR:Automata. Check that out as well if you'd like.

The update to the game that was released 2017-04-28 didn't include any PC specific fixes but seems to have brought the PC version up to date with the PS4 JPN and ROW releases.

├ Essential Improvements

These are the essential improvements that all PC gamers benefit from.

Use Kaldaien's FAR mod. It fixes the fullscreen issue, cutscene stuttering as well as a bunch of other issues with the game and generally provides a better experience regardless of your build.

Lower global illumination to High to get a performance boost and more stable framerate without any major visual impact. Low-end builds can lower the setting even further. See the FAR: Global Illumination chapter further down in this guide for more information.

Disable the Anti-Aliasing setting as that one is extremely taxing on most hardware.

Ambient Occlusion includes a separate post-processing anti-aliasing pass (SMAA) which is much less taxing, so enable that one instead if you want to minimize the jaggies.

The only question that isn't answered completely in the thread is What is FAR and Why is it so Essential? which can be found just below.

├ What is FAR and Why is it so Essential?

FAR (Fix Automata Resolution) is a community mod created by Kaldaien with contributions from a bunch of talented individuals. This mod is essential to fix certain issues the game have but also contributes with visual improvements and smoother framerates.

FAR fixes the fullscreen scaling bugs

See the chapter called Issues: The Fullscreen Issues (fixes, short) for an in-depth explanation of what the issues entails and how they occurs, and why they do not show up on most capture software.

This feature is enabled by default.

FAR fixes the cutscene stuttering bug

The game uses an ineffective way to sleep the render thread during cutscene segments that results in cutscene stutter occasionally or constantly. A previous fix (NieRepack) involved converting the 30 FPS cutscenes into 60 FPS using frame interpolation. However this is a time-consuming method that required hours to complete. FAR now includes a better sleep method (so called busy-wait) that makes the conversion method unnecessary.

This feature is enabled by default.

FAR includes a better frame limiter

A better and more optimized frame limiter is included in FAR that can mitigate framerate stutters and overall provide a better gameplay experience.

This feature is enabled by default.

FAR can adjust Global Illumination

Global illumination is a massive performance hog of the game that is unchangeable through the in-game settings. FAR allows this to be easily changed, which can make the game much more playable even on builds that are below the minimum requirements.

This feature is disabled by default. Enable it through the in-game control panel (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace). See the chapter FAR: Global Illumination for the visual differences between the various quality levels available.

FAR can adjust the resolution of Ambient Occlusion and Bloom

The mod includes the possibility to overwrite the standard resolution of Ambient Occlusion and Bloom. The default resolution (800x450) of both results in blocky artifacts where the effects are used. This visual improvement comes with a negligible performance impact (below 1 FPS) on all builds.

Set Global Illumination to Off. The changes take effect immediately. See the chapter FAR: Global Illumination for the visual differences between the various presets available.

Play the game and see how it performs. Raise settings accordingly until you find a balance that works for you.

If the game still performs quite bad do the following:

Lower the resolution of the game even further. Please note that FAR supports a 1280x720 resolution at minimum, so lowering the resolution even further might prevent you from using the control panel of FAR.

Disable Bloom through the control panel of FAR (just click on the lit checkbox to the left of the option). Restart the game after the change to ensure that no issues occur. Please note that this have a significant effect on lightning and colors in the game (too bright or dark scenes, etc).

A recommendation is to raise Global Illumination to at least Low if your build can handle it as it can significantly affect the lightning in some areas (e.g. causes objects to appear entirely red[diff.pics]).

Do NOT enable the Anti-Aliasing setting as that one is extremely taxing on most hardware. Ambient Occlusion includes a separate post-processing anti-aliasing pass which is much less taxing, so enable that one instead if you want to minimize the jaggies.

FAR (Fix Automata Resolution) is a community mod created by Kaldaien with contributions from a bunch of talented individuals. This mod is essential to fix certain issues the game have but also contributes with visual improvements and smoother framerates.

See the below chapters for how to install and use FAR.

Note: FAR v0.7.0 uses files called dinput8 (dinput8.dll, dinput8.ini, etc) instead of dxgi (dxgi.dll, dxgi.ini, etc) as older versions of the mod used. Long time users of FAR must ensure that they don't have two versions installed (dinput8.dll and dxgi.dll) as running two at the same time is not supported and breaks the game.

├ Prerequisites

These are necessary for FAR and the automated installer (SKIM) to work.

The below guide will help you install FAR using the automated installer called SKIM (Special K Install Manager).

Start by installing the prerequisites for FAR to work. See the FAR: Prerequisites chapter above for what's needed.

Download the latest version of FAR's automated installer (SKIM) from the opening post of the main thread.

Run the installer from a folder of your choosing (note: NOT from the game folder!).

Select FAR in the product list.

Now click Install:

You should now get the following window. Click on Yes to begin the automatic download and install of the latest stable version of FAR.

If this window doesn't show and the main window only flashes briefly then something went wrong with the connection to the GitHub repository. Please try the following:

Click on Install again and see if the window shows up now.

Run the following command in CMD/Run to clear your Internet Explorer cache:

RunDll32.exe InetCpl.cpl,ClearMyTracksByProcess 4

If any of the above didn't work then read the chapter FAR: Manual Installation on how to install FAR manually.

Launch the game.

If everything works correctly you should have a banner in the upper left corner of the game and two additional files (FAR.ini, and dinput8.ini) and folders (logs and Version) will be created in the game folder.

If the banner doesn't show and you can't open the FAR control panel when you click Ctrl + Shift + Backspace then something is interfering with FAR. Navigate to the game folder and paste copies of:

logs/dinput8.log

logs/modules.log

logs/crash.log (may be empty)

to pastebin.com and provide a link to these logs in the main thread of FAR. It will hopefully allow the community to help you find what's causing FAR not to work.

While in-game, use the control panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) to tweak the settings to your liking.

├ Manual Installation

The below guide will allow you to install FAR manually if the automated installer for some reason doesn't work as intended.

Start by installing the prerequisites for FAR to work. Check the FAR: Prerequisites chapter above for what's needed.

Right-click the game on Steam and click on Properties, followed by opening the tab called "Local Files". Finally click on "Browse local files" to open the game folder in File Explorer of Windows.

Please note that the oldest version of the current release is just called "FAR.7z."

Extract the files of that archive to the game folder you opened in step 2. You should have a folder that looks like this now:

Launch the game.

If everything works correctly you should have a banner in the upper left corner of the game and two additional files (FAR.ini, and dinput8.ini) and folders (logs and Version) will be created in the game folder.

If the banner doesn't show and you can't open the FAR control panel when you click Ctrl + Shift + Backspace then something is interfering with FAR. Navigate to the game folder and paste copies of:

logs/dinput8.log

logs/modules.log

logs/crash.log (may be empty)

to pastebin.com and provide a link to these logs in the main thread of FAR. It will hopefully allow the community to help you find what's causing FAR not to work.

While in-game, use the control panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) to tweak the settings to your liking.

├ Global Illumination

Global illumination (indirect light bouncing) is a massive performance hog of the game that can not be changed through the in-game settings. FAR allows this to be easily changed, which can make the game much more playable even on builds that are below the minimum requirements.

Changeable settings through the control panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace):

Setting

Description

Global Illumination Quality

The quality level of the indirect light bouncing. Adjust this for a huge performance boost.

Warning:Off is only recommended for below-minimum builds due to the massive visual impact it can cause in certain dark environments (make objects appear completely red).

Minimum Light Extent

Dynamically exclude light based on their coverage. Adjust this for a minor performance boost.

Warning: Using a too high value will produce visual artifacts in some places.

Example screenshots:

The following screenshots showcase the effect global illumination has on objects in the environment by adjusting the Global Illumination Quality setting. Minimum Light Extent is set to 0% in all screenshots.

Note: By modifying FAR.ini directly it is possible to set GlobalIlluminationWorkgroups to 48, which allows for an effect approximately between the High and Medium quality levels. This can be a good compromise between visual impact and performance for some builds.

├ Hide Mouse Cursor

This can be useful if you use a controller and are tired of moving the mouse to the side of the screen constantly.

Install FAR.

Launch the game.

Open the control panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) and expand the section called "Input Management" and the subsection called "Mouse Cursor".

Enable Hide When Not Moved and move the Seconds Before Hiding slider a bit to the right (basically choose anything except for 0.0 as that will hide the mouse permanently).

Close the control panel of FAR.

├ Enable Borderless Window Mode

Install FAR.

Launch the game.

Configure the in-game options to window mode and the resolution of the monitor.

Open the control panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) and expand the section called "Window Management".

The mod includes the possibility to overwrite the standard resolution of Ambient Occlusion and Bloom. The default resolution (800x450) of both results in blocky artifacts where the effects are used. This visual improvement comes with a negligible performance impact (below 1 FPS) on all builds.

This feature is disabled by default. Enable it through the in-game control panel (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) by clicking "Native Res." between both options. A restart is required to allow the changes to take effect.

Note that this option doesn't automatically update itself upon resolution changes, so if you change resolution in-game (from e.g. 1080p to 1440p) you'll have to click "Native Res." again in the control panel to update the custom values to reflect the new resolution.

├ Enable Higher Frame Rate (>60 FPS)

Please note that an unlocked frame rate does not affect cutscenes and menus, and can have a detrimental effect on the gaming experience. Some aspects of the game (e.g. hacking mini-game, physics, timing, scripting) are locked/synced to the frame rate and can behave strangely when using a higher frame rate than 60 FPS.

Disable vertical sync through the in-game settings menu.

While in-game, open the control panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace).

Expand the NieR: Automata subsection called "Framerate". Click on the box to the left of 'Remove 60 FPS Cap' to enable the unlock.

Expand the section called "Framerate". Set the 'Framerate Limit' to 0.

The frame rate unlocker is now enabled. Please note that the frame rate will not go above 60 FPS until you have loaded up the game world and aren't in a menu or cutscene.

If you have a 60 Hz monitor or play in windowed (borderless) mode then you are now finished. The steps below are only valid for those wanting to override the Refresh Rate of the game in fullscreen mode as well (concerns primarily FreeSync and G-Sync users).

Do the following to set a custom refresh rate for the game:

Close the game if it isn't already.

Navigate to the game folder.

Open dinput8.ini in Notepad.

Find the following line:

[Render.FrameRate]
RefreshRate=-1

Set RefreshRate to the wanted refresh rate.

Save and close the file.

Launch the game.

├ Enable SLI

Please note that SLI only works in fullscreen mode and not window or borderless window mode.

This can alternatively be done through Nvidia Profile Inspector, please see PCGamingWiki's SLI not working[pcgamingwiki.com] chapter if you'd rather use that method.

Install FAR and launch the game at least once to allow the configuration files of FAR to be created.

FAR will now create a NVIDIA profile for the game using the configured SLI compatibility bits.

Notes:* Compatibility bits 0x080004F1 also seems to work fine.

├ ReShade (Custom)

ReShade[reshade.me] is an advanced post-processing injector for games, allowing the player to add custom shaders and filters to the game. All kinds of effects can be injected, from FXAA/SMAA, depth of field effects, film grain, and much more. FAR (v0.7.0.15 and later) ships with a custom variant of ReShade that is enabled by default.

This chapter describes how to add shaders to the custom version of ReShade that comes bundled with FAR.

Follow the instructions above to install FAR and confirm that it is working correctly.

Create a new ReShade folder within the game folder:

Steam\steamapps\common\NieRAutomata\ReShade

Download the ReShade FX shaders[github.com] repository and extract the Shaders and Textures folders contained within to the ReShade folder you created.

If you did it correctly you should now have two new folders in the ReShade folder:

Launch the game.

While in-game, open the control panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) and expand the section called "NieR: Automata" and its subsection "ReShade".

Enable "ReShade (Custom)" by clicking in the checkbox to the left.

Restart the game.

The shaders you extracted in the ReShade folder will now be loaded into the game:

If the shaders aren't being loaded, open the Control Panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) and change the Load Order of ReShade (Custom) to Early under NieR: Automata -> ReShade. Then restart the game again.

While in-game, open the control panel of ReShade (Shift + F2) to tweak the settings to your liking.

Note: You can remove unnecessary or unwanted FX files from the Shaders folder to speed up the loading of ReShade.

├ ReShade (Official)

ReShade[reshade.me] is an advanced post-processing injector for games, allowing the player to add custom shaders and filters to the game. All kinds of effects can be injected, from FXAA/SMAA, depth of field effects, film grain, and much more. FAR (v0.5.6.1 and later) includes full support for loading the official ReShade DLLs as a plugin for those wanting to use it in NieR:Automata.

Please note that FAR (v0.7.0.15 and later) ships with a custom variant of ReShade that is disabled by default. Refer to the chapter above on how to enable the custom one. This chapter describes how to get the official version of ReShade to work with FAR.

Follow the instructions above to install FAR and confirm that it is working correctly.

Create these folders under My Documents:

My Mods\SpecialK\PlugIns\ThirdParty\ReShade

Download ReShade[reshade.me] and move the setup file to the ReShade folder you created previously.

Run the setup file, then hold down CTRL and click on the "Select game" prompt.

If you did it correctly you should now have two new files in the ReShade folder as shown below. Feel free to remove/move the setup file as we won't be using it anymore.

Download the ReShade FX shaders[github.com] repository and extract the Shaders and Textures folders contained within to the ReShade folder you created previously.

If you did it correctly you should now have two new folders in the ReShade folder as shown below.

Launch the game.

While in-game, open the control panel of FAR (Ctrl + Shift + Backspace) and expand the section called "Plug-Ins" and its subsections "Third-Party" and "Unofficial". Ensure that the the "ReShade (Custom)" plugin is disabled, then enable the "ReShade (Official)" plugin instead.

Restart the game.

The official ReShade will now be loaded into the game and you should see a notice in the top left corner. Please note that this notice might be partially hidden by the OSD of FAR if you have it enabled.

If the ReShade OSD doesn't show up then something might be wrong. Navigate to the game folder and paste copies of:

dinput8.ini

logs/dinput8.log

logs/modules.log

logs/crash.log (may be empty)

to pastebin.com and provide a link to these logs in the main thread of FAR. It will hopefully allow the community to help you find what's causing ReShade not to work. Please note that the community might not be able to fully help you as ReShade is ultimately a third-party plugin that FAR merely tries to load automatically.

While in-game, open the control panel of ReShade (Shift + F2) and click on the Settings tab.

You should have two Paths mentioned there, one for Effect and one for Texture. Add the missing subfolders to these paths so you have paths that looks something like the ones below:

Create subfolders under the game folder, so you'll have a folder structure like this:

Steam\steamapps\common\NieRAutomata\FAR_Res\inject\textures

After you've created the base folder structures for the textures, create a new subfolder under the textures folder, with a name of your choice.

This is primarily for your own benefit. If you want you can also just use the base textures folder without any subfolders if you want to, however this will make it impossible to separate textures between mods.

Example: a subfolder called "2B" which contains all 2B related textures.

Move the texture files of the mod into the newly created folder.

Open dinput8.ini and change Inject=false to Inject=true.

Launch the game and enjoy your texture mod.

├ Keybindings

Basic

Keybinding

Function

Ctrl + Shift + O

Toggle On Screen Display (OSD), might require a game restart

Keyboard: Ctrl + Shift + BackspaceController: Back / Select + Start

Toggle Control Panel

Hold Ctrl + Shift while launching the game

Opens the Injection Compatibility Options

Framerate Unlocker

Keybinding

Function

Comment

Ctrl + Shift + Dot ( . )

Toggle 60 FPS cap

See Enable Higher Frame Rate (>60 FPS) for initial setup

Camera and HUD

Keybindings can be changed in the control panel of FAR.Some non-English keyboard users might need to rebind the keys before they work.

Perfect if you've used the automatic installer and are in need of a one-click solution.

Run SKIM64.exe that you downloaded when you installed FAR. Ensure that "FAR" (Fix Automata Res.) is the selected product and then click on Uninstall. That's it!

Manual

Use this if the automatic uninstall didn't work for some reason.

Open the game folder.

Remove files and folders until only these remain:

Optional: Remove the Documents\My Mods\SpecialK folder to remove global settings. Please note that doing this will also remove SKIM and the Special K global injector if those are installed, so don't remove the folder if you're using any of those tools.

Issues

This guide primarily covers the fullscreen and white screen issues extensively, though does make a few mentions of various other issues if they involve FAR or general information in some way. For a full list of known issues and how to solve them, check out the PCGamingWiki article[pcgamingwiki.com] of the game.

├ The White Screen Issue

The issue the community have chosen to label as the "white screen crash" (sometimes referred to as "WSOD" or "white screen of death") is one or more reoccurring bug(s) that occasionally causes the display drivers to crash. This results in either a completely white screen or a frozen image that doesn't go away no matter what the user does.

This issue doesn't occur frequently enough to be a concern on most builds. It's mostly a small subset (GTX 700 series, some AMD cards) that experience it frequently enough to be a hindrance to the enjoyment of the game.

The current situation of the issue can be summarized as follows: There are no perfect solution so far, but tweaks exists to help mitigate the issue on most configurations that are more affected by the issue.

What follows is an aggregated list of things that users have reported worked for them:

CPU:

Limiting core affinity (which cores the game will make use of) seems to be one of the most successful fixes so far that the community have found.

Change the "/affinity 5" value depending on how many cores the game should use:

Value

CPUs to use

Comment

5

CPU 0, 2

Reported to work well on most builds

15

CPU 0, 2, 4

Only for CPUs with 6 or more logical processors

55

CPU 0, 2, 4, 6

Only for CPUs with 8 or more logical processors

Change the "Start in" field in the properties of the shortcut to point to the game folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\NierAutomata

Use the shortcut to launch the game. This shortcut will automatically limit the CPU affinity for you on launch.

Manual method: (on each launch)

Launch the game.

ALT+Tab back to Windows.

Open Task Manager and navigate to the Details tab.

Right-click on NierAutomata.exe and select Set affinity.

Uncheck every odd CPU.

Graphics card:

AMD cards:

Perform a clean uninstall using DDU[www.wagnardsoft.com] followed by upgrading your drivers to v17.5.2[support.amd.com] or later, as v17.5.2 includes an official fix for the issue for AMD cards.

If v17.5.2 doesn't work then you can also downgrade to v16.11.5[support.amd.com] which have been reported to work as well for most cards.

Nvidia cards:

v384.94 includes a fix for the issue plaguing the 780/780 Ti cards. It's unknown if this fix is applicable for other cards as well, but it is recommended to try the driver out. There's also v365.10, v368.81, and v382.05 which have been reported to work better for some user.

Perform a clean uninstall using DDU[www.wagnardsoft.com] followed by upgrading to the latest available drivers.

Disable and forcibly lower graphic settings even further through Nvidia or AMD's Control Panel

Disable overclock if one exists (both custom and factory)

Set the card to run at maximum performance

Ensure that the desktop resolution in Windows is the same as the game is using

Use a DirectX 11 to Vulkan[github.com] wrapper to run the game as Vulkan instead. Note however that this makes it impossible to use FAR with the game.

Raise the TDR delay (see this Microsoft page[docs.microsoft.com]) from 2 seconds to e.g. 5 or 10. Warning: Use only for troubleshooting purposes. Restore the value if it doesn't solve it as these settings can have a negative effect in other applications/games if crashes occur.

Prologue/Tutorial-specific:

Lower difficulty to Easy and equip every available "Auto XXX" plug-in chip and speedrun the section.

This will basically make the game play itself, but can help users run pass the section and avoid the issue entirely.

Just remember to raise the difficulty and unequip these plug-in chips as you arrive to the Bunker, as they would otherwise make the game too easy.

Game:

Limit yourself to only use the Pod to fire. Some users have reported that certain on-hit effects when using the blade on the environment (steel/metal) in some areas can cause the crash.

Use Alt+Enter when it occurs to swap between fullscreen and window mode (sometimes multiple times can be required)

Play in Fullscreen Mode or in Windowed Mode

Disable vsync

Lower game settings to lowest and disable every graphics feature

Injectors:

Limit/Disable third-party injectors/tools/mods that might interfere with the game (including the Steam overlay)

The game suffers from two bugs in fullscreen mode, both related to the output resolution of the game. These issues only affect the fullscreen mode, and can therefor be worked around by playing the game in window mode, while using FAR (or a similar tool) to provide a borderless window.

Please note that output and framebuffer (rendering) resolutions are not the same thing.

Bug #1: The game doesn't output to the native resolution of the monitor

This is the issue most commonly experienced since most users have configured the desktop in Windows and the game to run at the native resolution of their monitor.

Add and use a custom resolution just below the native resolution, see this guide for how to do so.

Nvidia users do not need to use the Custom Resolution Utility linked in the guide as that feature is built into the Nvidia Control Panel (Change resolution -> Customize -> Create Custom Resolution).

Bug #2: The game doesn't respect the GPU/monitor scaling configuration in the display drivers

Also known as: Lower resolutions gets upscaled and output to the desktop resolution of Windows or the highest supported stretched resolution if desktop res equals native res, due to bug #1.

If this doesn't annoy you, then simply ignoring it works just fine.

Use FAR v0.7.0.13 or later, which includes a built-in fix.

Previous versions of FAR can use the Force Override option to force a fix, although this might break Alt+Tab functionality.

Lower the desktop resolution of Windows for the monitor to match the same resolution used in the game.

21:9 monitors

Since the interface and HUD doesn't support other aspect ratios than 16:9 (all others aspect ratios are stretched from 16:9) then the best gaming experience is most likely by playing the game in 16:9.

Nvidia: Set scaling mode to No scaling in the display driver settings, and enableOverride the scaling mode set by games and programs.AMD: Set scaling mode to Center and disableGPU Scaling.

Configure the game to run in 1920x1080 or the 16:9 resolution closest to the native resolution of the monitor (so 2560x1440 on a 3840x1440 21:9 monitor, etc).

And that should be it! The resulting image should be a pixel-perfect centered 16:9 image in the middle of the monitor.

However this all hinges on that the monitor does not support any other higher resolution between the 16:9 and 21:9 native resolution. Meaning that the available resolutions should go from e.g. 2560x1080 -> 1920x1080, and not have another in between (e.g. 2560x1080 -> 2160x1080 -> 1920x1080). If an additional resolution is available in between then the game will suffer from Bug #2 mentioned above.

├ The Fullscreen Issues (detailed)

Introduction

The game suffers from two bugs in fullscreen mode, both related to the output resolution of the game. These issues only affect the fullscreen mode, and can therefor be worked around by playing the game in window mode, while using FAR (or a similar tool) to provide a borderless window.

The bugs and what issues they cause are highly confusing, since they are affected by each other and a bunch of things not related to the game itself. Don't be surprised if you loss track of something. I'm having a hard time just simplifying it and making it as easy to understand as I possibly can while writing this section.

Fixes

For fixes, see the short chapter above.

Terminology

Before we go any further, let's define some terms that it is important to understand the difference of.

Resolution

Definition

Native

The native resolution of the monitor. This is the resolution the monitor natively supports, and corresponds to the number of pixels that physically reside on the monitor. A 1920x1080 monitor have 1920x1080 as the native resolution, while a 1920x1200 monitor have 1920x1200 as the native, and so on.

Stretched

This refers to resolutions that supports being stretched to fill out the native resolution of the monitor. In layman's terms it basically means all non-native resolutions the monitor supports.

It also refers to a fullscreen scaling mode for resolutions that games can make use of to get non-native resolutions stretched to fill out the whole monitor with no black borders around it.

Desktop

The desktop resolution configured for the monitor in Windows. This is usually the native resolution, but might be higher if the user uses Nvidia DSR or AMD VSR to add support for higher-than-native resolutions to the monitor. It might also be lower if the user for some reason don't want Windows to run at the native resolution of the monitor.

Framebuffer

The resolution the game renders everything in. Typically known as rendering resolution.

Some modern games allows users to specify a framebuffer resolution different from the output resolution, typically known as "supersampling" or "downscaling" a game from a higher than native resolution.

Output

The resolution the game tries to output the rendered image to. This does not have to be identical to the framebuffer resolution, though most games uses the same resolution for both.

Bugs

These are the bugs the game is affected by while playing in fullscreen mode:

The game requests a list of supported stretched resolutions to output the final image to.

This list is populated by the monitor, with custom resolutions added by the display drivers.

The game outputs to the desktop resolution of Windows for the monitor, regardless of what resolution the game is configured to use.

I've noticed that the game picks interlaced scan on certain HDTVs for some unknown reason. It might be a side effect of both or either bug, or an indication of another bug entirely. However this can easily be fixed by setting the ScanlineOrder in FAR's config file to Progressive.

Issues

The two bugs combined creates all kinds of non-standard behaviors and issues for players, some of which are documented below:

Since the game requests a list of supported stretched resolutions to output to, it can't output to the native resolution of the monitor. The native resolution of a monitor is never stretched and is therefor not included in this list of resolutions the game requests. The game will instead pick the closest supported resolution included in that list, regardless of what that might be.

Since most people have configured the Windows desktop and the game to the native resolution of their monitor, this issue is the most often experienced.

The game will attempt and output all framebuffer resolutions (as configured by the "Resolution" setting in the game) as the desktop resolution used in Windows for that monitor, or the closest stretched resolution available (if desktop res equals native res). This means that all framebuffer resolutions that are lower than the desktop resolution in Windows will be upscaled while being outputted to the monitor. Similarly, all framebuffer resolutions higher than the desktop resolution in Windows will be downscaled while being outputted.

Due to both previous bullets, the game basically ignores GPU/monitor scaling as configured in the display drivers, unless "Override scaling mode set by games" and the desktop resolution of the monitor in Windows mirrors the non-native resolution of the game.

This is because of the following:

The game requests a stretched resolution to output to. This means that whatever output resolution the game picks (desktop res if non-native, or closest stretched non-native) is being told by the game to be stretched to fill the whole monitor. If you enable Override scaling mode set by games in the display drivers, you can at least ignore the "stretched to fill the whole monitor" part, and instead get the outputted image centered on the monitor with black borders around it.

Override scaling mode set by games will not change the list of supported stretched resolutions that the game requests, only that whatever resolution is picked (desktop res if non-native, or closest stretched non-native) will not be stretched to fill the whole monitor.

Therefor it's imperative that the desktop resolution in Windows is also non-native, as otherwise the game would end up outputting a (e.g.) 1280x720 (16:9) framebuffer resolution as (e.g.) 1680x1050 (16:10) (if that were the closest stretched resolution the monitor supported) on a 1920x1080 (16:9) monitor, if the desktop resolution in Windows was 1920x1080 (native) and the game was configured to run at 1280x720. Basically upscaling the 1280x720 (16:9) image and output it as 1680x1050 (a 16:10 format), distorting it a bit in the process.

Notes

Couldn't find any other place to mention this, so here it is:

Since the framebuffer is actually being rendered at the correct resolution, capture software that relies on the framebuffer (Steam's Screenshot tool, Shadowplay, etc) will not actually show the issue since they work on a layer before the issue occurs.

Disclaimer

I am not a 3D programmer, and only have a basic understanding of how the whole pipeline from game to display works (though I've learned a lot from diagnosing this game). This section is based entirely on my own understanding and hours of testing, using both NieR:Automata and other modern games as a guideline to see what should happen, and what doesn't. The testing includes 4 different computers and multiple monitors, along with 6 different GPUs (4x Nvidia dGPUs, 2x Intel iGPUs). I hope to soon be able to verify my findings using an AMD GPU as well. Anyway, my findings are the same on both Intel and Nvidia tested hardware.

I value constructive criticism, so if you've got any feel free to post a comment below.

├ The Fullscreen Issues (bug #1 step-by-step)

The below is only valid when the desktop resolution of the monitor in Windows matches the resolution configured in the game itself.

A summary of events when running in fullscreen mode with the native resolution of the monitor configured as both the resolution of the Windows desktop as well as in the game:

The user configures the game to use the native resolution of their monitor (e.g. 1920x1080).

The game renders everything correctly in the chosen resolution as it should:

The game then requests a list of stretched resolutions the monitor supports, with the intention to pick an output resolution from. This means all resolutions that must be stretched to fit the whole monitor, basically all non-native resolutions of the monitor. In this example we used 1920x1080, which is the native resolution on a 16:9 1080p monitor, hence it is not stretched and is therefor not included in that list.

This will instead force the game to output to the highest stretched resolution of the monitor, whatever that may be. This might be a 16:10 resolution such as 1680x1050, or it might be a non-standard resolution such as 1600x1024.

And as such, the game outputs the rendered image in the wrong resolution:

What happens next depends on the scaling configuration of your display drivers.

If scaling is set to 'Full Screen' or 'Override scaling set by games' is disabledThe output image is scaled to fit the full width and height of your monitor. Which gives a slightly distorted result from the original image:

If scaling is set to 'No Scaling'/'Centered' and 'Override scaling set by games' is enabledThe output image is shown with black borders around it on your monitor.

This issue affects everyone trying to play the game in the native resolution of their monitor. The only difference is whether the player notices it or not. An easy way to confirm the issue is to open the Steam Overlay and take a closer look how the mouse and text looks like. A correct output image should have a mouse that is indistinguishable from how it looks outside of the game (meaning it isn't misformed in any way) and pixel-perfect text. If either of these aren't true (the mouse is misformed in some way or the text is slightly blurry or "fuzzy") then you're experiencing the issue.

The example images shown are illustrations created in Photoshop to simulate the effect of the bug.

Advanced guides and stuff generally not recommended. These are only here to easily link to if necessary.

├ Downgrade NieR:Automata

This procedure is never recommended for anyone. Only use the steps mentioned here if you actually need to downgrade your copy of the game to the release version for whatever reason. The below guide is based on this post by Reddit user GMMan_BZFlag.

Disclaimer: I have no idea what the consequences of doing this can have on your saves. Be sure to backup your saves before you begin!

Backup your save folder Documents\My Games\NieR_Automata.

Open the Steam Console using the following command in Run:

steam://nav/console

Please note the following before you proceed:

You won't be able to see a progress bar so follow the download either through Steam's Download tab or through Task Manager in Windows.

The download is around 27 GB while the installed files take upwards of 45 GB, so you need at least 50 GB of free space on the disk to download and install the files correctly.

The download can pause/resume if your connection goes out, but won't if you restart the client.

Use this command to start the download:

download_depot 524220 524221 5957457901932186850

This will download the unpatched game to the following folder:

Steam\steamapps\content\app_524220\depot_524221

Leave the Steam client running (exiting the Steam client will abort the download) and monitor the progress either through Steam's Download tab or through Task Manager in Windows.

After the download have completed navigate to Steam\steamapps\common\NieRAutomata and move all files contained within into a new subfolder Updated.

Navigate to Steam\steamapps\content\app_524220\depot_524221 and move all files contained within to Steam\steamapps\common\NieRAutomata. If you've done it correctly you should have a folder that looks like this:

Start the game through Steam or by double-clicking on NieRAutomata.exe in the game folder.

Optional: If you have DLCs and want to use them with the unpatched game (the 3C3C1D DLC doesn't fully work, mind you!) then simply move or copy/paste your data1xx.cpk files from NieRAutomata\updated\data to NieRAutomata\data. If you're asked to overwrite something you've selected the wrong file(s).

└ Special K

Note that this section can be ignored by regular users, and are only documented here for completion.

FAR (Fix Automata Resolution) actually refers to a game-specific module within Kaldaien's extensive framework/mod Special K. In effect, when a user installs FAR what is really installed is the local 64-bit wrapper of Special K to the NieR:Automata game folder.

Since Special K is a huge beast all on its own, I've a separate guide about it:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=933337066The nature of Special K and FAR (them actually being one and the same) means that it's possible to transition over from the local 64-bit wrapper of Special K to the global injection method instead without losing any game-specific features of FAR. Please note that this isn't necessary, and as such only users who use Special K with other games might be interested in using the global wrapper instead.

I never used quotation marks in my browser. I've tried to open the link unsuccessfully in Steam. I have edited my post so that it no longer has those quotation marks. Odd, that the site to check

Regarding the ReShade's security staus: I tried to follow the advice,"Upload it to VirusTotal, as I mentioned, and let that service’s access to 20ish or more AV engines scan through it. If the detection rate is low then it is most likely a false positive."All throughout the day I tried to access https://www.virustotal.com , on two differnt browsers without any success. Has anyone had similar problems.

Macula, Aemony, can you open VirusTotal in your brower now with no issues?

OK i did it but the downside is that it takes 2-3 shots at the same time.

I use a program called "X Mouse Button Control" and since Steam can't bind mouse buttons for screenshots, just for shooter games i used CTRL+C for mouse 4 button (side button) and then i set Steam to use CTRL+C for it.Instant fast shots.Then i went to FAR Control Panel and Clicked mouse 4 and FAR translated it as CTRL+C.The problem there was to find a way to do it on controller but couldn't until...i went to Big Picture and selected Steam Button Chord Configuration.I allowed multiple buttons to be pressed under "Take Screenshot" option and chose CTRL+C.Like i said though.Can take 2-3 shots at the same time, maybe 5 even LOL.